Riyadh

ARTICLES ABOUT RIYADH BY DATE - PAGE 2

Have you ever settled on something you really wanted to achieve, knocked yourself out to bring your dream to fruition and then, when it came true, decided you didn't want it? Neither have we. But the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has. Last week, following an extended lobbying campaign, it won election to the United Nations Security Council. The other nations chosen for membership celebrated. The Saudis, however, made a grand show of declining the honor - something no nation has ever done.

PARIS/KUWAIT (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sought on Monday to calm rising tensions with Saudi Arabia, which has spurned a U.N. Security Council seat in fury at inaction over the crisis in Syria. Saudi Arabia rejected a coveted two-year term on the council on Friday in a rare display of anger over what it called "double standards" at the United Nations. Its stance won praise from its Gulf Arab allies and Egypt. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal hosted a lunch for Kerry at his private residence in Paris on Monday.

RIYADH (Reuters) - In his full-throated cry of support for the Egyptian authorities, Saudi King Abdullah on Friday described street protests by the Muslim Brotherhood as representing "terrorism and sedition". That stark view of a crisis that has killed hundreds in the past week shows why the world's top oil exporter will continue to back Egypt's crackdown on the Brotherhood even while its Western allies try to convince the generals to back down. When the "Arab Spring" revolts blew across the Middle East in 2011 - toppling one authoritarian president after another - the kings and emirs of the rich Gulf monarchies held on to power but were shaken as never before.

(Repeats to widen distribution) RIYADH, July 28 (Reuters) - The Saudi Arabian government awarded $22.5 billion in contracts to three foreign-led consortia on Sunday for the design and construction of a metro rail system in the capital Riyadh. The project, which will involve six rail lines extending 176 kilometres (110 miles) and carrying electric, driverless trains, is the world's largest public transport system currently under development, Saudi officials said. U.S. construction giant Bechtel Corp heads a group which won a $9.45 billion contract to build two lines, the government announced.

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief, Prince Muqrin, once told American diplomats the Middle East's so-called Shi'ite Crescent where the Muslim sect holds sway was "becoming a full moon" as Iranian influence spread. For the kingdom's Sunni ruling princes, that fear, revealed in a 2009 U.S. embassy cable released by WikiLeaks, now focuses on Syria. Iran-backed President Bashar al-Assad's forces are advancing with the aid of Lebanese Hezbollah Shi'ite fighters, while Riyadh supports the Sunni rebels fighting against him. It is a war increasingly seen in Riyadh as the fulcrum of a wider geopolitical struggle with Iran, a country it believes is radical, expansionist and militant, and a potential threat to Saudi Arabia itself.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia, a staunch opponent of President Bashar al-Assad since early in Syria's conflict, began supplying anti-aircraft missiles to rebels "on a small scale" about two months ago, a Gulf source said on Monday. The shoulder-fired weapons were obtained mostly from suppliers in France and Belgium, the source told Reuters. France had paid for the transport of the weapons to the region. The supplies were intended for General Salim Idriss, leader of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army (FSA)

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah named his son to head a new National Guard ministry on Monday, strengthening the force's role in the kingdom as the ruling family grapples with the transfer of power towards a younger generation. The elevation of Prince Miteb, which state media said came in a royal decree, has few strategic or military implications but bolsters his credentials within the ruling family. "With this ministry, Miteb will have a stronger role to play.

RIYADH, May 12 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Sunday it appeared likely that the novel coronavirus, which has killed 18 people in Saudi Arabia and Europe, could be passed from person to person. WHO Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda, speaking after a visit to Saudi Arabia, told reporters in Riyadh: "Of most concern is the fact that the different clusters seen in multiple countries increasingly support the hypothesis that when there is close contact, this novel coronavirus can transmit from person to person.